Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Istanbul Chess Olympiad R6: Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan in Joint Lead in Open

The 40th Chess Olympiad in Istanbul had a dynamic sixth round. There were fireworks all around as is inevitable with beautiful, creative and attacking chess. In the Open section, top seeds Russia and Armenia met on the top table. Kramnik unleashed a sac to wipe Aronian off the board on the Queenside in a lethal game of chess. Read the transcript of Vladimir Kramnik's press conference.

Every single photographer will

be needing this photo after Round 6!

However, Grischuk went down fighting to Sergei Movsesian. The bottom two boards drew their games and the match was tied 2-2. China went all hammer and tongs at Bosnia grounding them down 3,5-0,5. Hungary and Azerbajian beat Poland and Croatia 3-1. USA and Germany drew their match with draws on all the boards!

There are three countries in joint lead after Round 6 - Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. There are still five rounds to go and each is all the more important because of these standings. In the women's section Russia did not China walk away with victory. Russia lost on board one but struck right back on board two. , favorites Russia and China squared off. They exchanged losses on boards 1 and 2 respectively and drew on boards 3 and 4. A near identical repeat of what happened in the Open section. Board 4 was first to complete with a bloodless bishop of opposite colour draw, but it soon was to get bloody when WWCC Yifan Hou delivered the death blow to T. Kosintseva. The elder Kosintseva avenged her younger sisters loss by dispatching of her opponent to even up the match score. Board 3 soon drew afterward securing a drawn match.

China cannot break this

Great Wall of Russia (!). Photo: David Llada

Russia and Poland are now in joint lead as Poland beat Serbia 3,5-0,5. Georgia, Ukraine, France and Vietnam have all moved ahead with neat victories in the 6th round. Spain and Hungary exchanged a pair of wins and drew two games to finish the match in a 2-2 tie.Read the transcript of the press conference with the captains of the French teams.